Sometimes, it's just nice to be asked to the dance. Even if you don't really want to go.

Flattery aside, the city of Portland was among some three dozen cities asked if it had any interest in hosting the 2016 Democratic National Convention. And, as we reported earlier this week, the answer was: nope.

"The size of the event. It would take an estimated 17,000 hotel rooms. The media needs would be massive," Haynes wrote in an email.

"We estimate that the city would have to go into construction projects to host the event … so, it wouldn't bring in money, it would cost money," he continued. "We'd end up with the infrastructure for such a massive event, which would end in four days. Then what?"

For some interesting context, let's consider what happened in Tampa.

The city hosted the 2012 Republican National Convention but isn't interested in rolling out the red carpet for the blue team.

The event attracted more than 50,000 visitors and had a direct economic impact calculated at more than $214 million, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

"I think it would be much more difficult to be able to put together a competitive bid for the Democrats, largely because in 2012, they prohibited the city of Charlotte (N.C.) from taking corporate money," he told reporters. "You guys saw the numbers."

Without corporate or lobbyist support, the Democrats' host committee in Charlotte struggled to raise $24.1 million in cash and in-kind contributions — far short of its $36.6 million goal. Planners cut millions from the budget but still had to draw nearly $8 million from a $10 million line of credit that Duke Energy had extended for the convention.

"By contrast, our host committee raised $50-plus million," Buckhorn noted. The private, nonprofit Tampa Bay Host Committee received about 91 percent of its money in six- or seven-figure chunks. Sixty percent of its support came from just 18 donors, including Cisco Systems, AT&T, Bright House Networks, Microsoft, Bank of America, Florida Power & Light and the American Petroleum Institute.